German Patent Application No. DE 196 45 943 describes a starter unit for an internal combustion engine. It permits two different starting methods. One starting is a pulse start and the other is a direct start. Both starting methods are starter-free starting methods. In this context, the pulse start is preferably carried out on a cold engine using the energy of a flywheel, and the direct start gets to be used on a hot engine, for instance at traffic light stops. In this context, the most favorable starting method is respectively selected autonomously as a function of the temperature of the internal combustion engine.
German Patent Application No. DE 197 43 492 describes a method for starting an internal combustion engine, especially of a motor vehicle. The internal combustion engine is furnished with a piston, moving in a cylinder, which is able to run through an intake phase, a compression phase, a working (expansion) phase and an exhaust phase. In addition, a control unit is provided, by which the fuel is able to be injected directly into a combustion chamber bounded by the cylinder and the piston, either in a first operating type during a compression phase or in a second operating type during an intake phase. The control unit is designed in such a way that, for starting, the fuel is injectable, in a first injection, into that combustion chamber whose appertaining piston is currently in the working phase.